Lucius
became aware he was the only remaining Centurion in the
tent. He followed his patron’s stare and looked at
the parchment Scipio was unfolding on the table. Looking
intently Lucius recognised the military symbols of the Roman
army and followed the arrows representing troop movement.

Scipio
turned to his Centurion with an expression of exasperation.

"As
you can see, Lucius, chaos, utter chaos! This diagram shows
what happened this morning when I sent two maniples (four
centuries) into the rough terrain for manoeuvres."

(Before)

(After)

"I
watched it all unfold from this hill top’ Scipio said
stabbing at a mound pencilled on to the parchment. ‘I
need you to sort this rabble out" he declared.

Lucius
took up the order. ‘It will be done"
and gave the Roman sign of honour.

Quickly
leaving the tent before he was given further tasks, Lucius
sought out the smaller tents of the four new Centurions.

15 minutes
later they were crowded into Lucius’s small tent,
each looking apprehensive and wishing the punishment would
be on another. They all knew the shambles that had taken
place that morning and knew why they had been instructed
to meet here. So, it came as some surprise when Lucius began:

"Your
Tribune, Scipio, has asked me to explain the finer points
of co-ordinating your men". Relief immediately
showed on all their faces.

"Do
not expect to be given another chance, fail in battle tomorrow
and the enemy will spill your blood as effectively as Paltanius,
here, spills his wine". The tension broke and
all laughed. Now that Lucius had their attention and their
concentration he went over the technique of a co-ordinated
front.

"You
see here (pointing at the diagram below) when you
are given a group command, all centuries will attempt to
move forward in the same direction".

"But,
if one of the units encounters rough terrain they would
be slowed down. In an attempt to keep up with the rest,
they tend to go round the rocks. This can defeat the tactics
intended by our Tribune. If your unit looks as if it will
encounter different terrain before the move is finished
…."

Lucius
scribbled on the parchment and explained as the four newly
promoted Centurions listened carefully.

Latin
is not my native tongue, dear reader, so let me use the
game terminology to go over Lucius’ explanation –

If your
unit looks as if it will encounter different terrain before
the move is finished …. then click on the unit and
look where the red arrows run. If they do not meet the desired
direction or likely to cross the path of another unit and
get held up due to possible over-stacking, go to the toolbar
and erase the command for that specific unit. Now issue
a separate (non-group) command to the unit, if necessary
specifying every specific hex you want the unit to go over.
The rest of the group can be left with the original group
order. The result could be as below.

If you
discover that the unit can not move the required number
of hexes to keep in line with the rest, you may accept the
position below or do a ‘Group Command Erase’
and re-assign the group to do fewer hexes, say two instead
of the three shown. The problem unit would then move over
the rough terrain (again only if specified as a hex the
unit must move in to) and keep up with the Line.

The
temperature had already dropped outside and a cold breeze
blew in when the Centurions left. Lucius mumbled a quick
prayer to Mars, god of war, and thought of the coming battle.
He knew tomorrow would turn boys in to men or leave them
dead on the field of battle. Lucius spoke the words his
Legion had recited for many decades ‘Mars favours
the brave’ and turned in for the night. His dreams
went over the frustrations expressed by these new Centurions:

"Why
do my men never do what I want them too ?!"

He only
hoped that today’s explanation helped them appreciate
that in the heat of battle little goes according to plan
and clear precise instructions are sometimes required even
for the best army the world has ever seen.